Posts Tagged ‘Cloudbuilt’

Cloudbuilt, from new kids on the block Coilworks, is more speedrun challenge than regular game. Its jetpack-equipped heroine double jumps and wall-runs her way through a series of dreamscape arenas, dodging laser beams, mines, turrets and deadly falls into the abyss. It’s frustrating, difficult and confusing in equal measure, but could easily top game of the year lists for a certain crowd. Gorgeous and deadly, here’s Wot I Think.

At time of writing, the casualties of Cloudbuilt include one pen, most of the feeling in my right hand, my temper and a cupboard door. It certainly has the “enraging me to the point of senseless violence” bit of being a speed-puzzle-platformer down. Once I’ve wiped away this red haze of childish emotion, I might be able to bring myself round to some critical thought. In the mean time: fuck this brilliant bullshit.

Sorta kinda not really Mirror’s-Edge-ish sprintleaper Cloudbuilt‘s heavenly looks are well-documented, but how does it actually work? That might sound like a silly question to you. I mean, sprinting, jumping, and wall-running? How hard can that be? You eat joggers, gymnasts, and Persian princes for breakfast. But there’s much, much more to Cloudbuilt than meets the eye, so developer Coilworks has released a new video dissecting what its precision platformer is all about. The short version? Looking as awesome as the player does in this trailer is actually much, much harder than it, er, looks.

And by that, I of course mean that it kinda vaguely reminds me of Mirror’s Edge – which is the highest praise I can give to just about anything with a running component, upward motion, or legs. Cloudbuilt is, however, also quite fond of the good old days before 3D graphics and gravity were invented, so double-jumping, air-dashing, and wall-running add some 16-bit flair to your fancy modern hop ‘n’ boppery. Basically, though, even a brief glimpse – which you’ll be able to glimpse briefly if you head southward of the break – has the part of my brain that’s faultily wired to salivate in relation to games instead of food doing its horrendously counterproductive thing.